If you are going to get another SF, at least get 1 that is a starter & a major improvement over 3+ that you have (JJ, Anderson & Kleiza). Same goes for PF. IMO, only Batum, G Wallace & AK47 would be an improvement possibly worth taking (Ersan's D would be a step back. Remember we still have Bargs at 4, 19 year old JV at centar & so-so D at 1 & 2).
I might be interested in Mayo or hold your breath James Harden. OKC already has 2 max guys. They MAY add 1 more next year -likely choice between Ibaka & Harden. Guess what -bigs are harder to find. How is this: DD plus our first this or next year for Harden. I firmly believe outside 3 or 4 teams -teams will not want to exceed cap (even Cuban let several key pieces go rather than pay. I know he is hoping to get Deron, but lets be realistic -I think we have as much chance of landing Deron as Dalas does).

I think it is more that Memphis has no interest in paying him 6.5 mil next year. Way too much money tied in 4-5 guys. Besides at 6.5 mil what is wrong with him starting & DD 6th man -better looks as he would be playing other team's 2nd unit. You can also play small ball with Jared, DD, Mayo JJ & Bargs. Quick team & lots of offence (nice if you are behind in 4th).

Another thing people have to consider: No one really wants to come here, so brass is tough to have to severely overpay to get guys to come here.
Batum said he'd never want to play for the Raptors, so we're going to have to pay at least 11-12 million per. At least. Mayo isn't going to come here for the MLE. It"s gonna take at least 7-8 million. Some guys around here are setting themselves up for disappointment.

Another thing people have to consider: No one really wants to come here, so brass is tough to have to severely overpay to get guys to come here.
Batum said he'd never want to play for the Raptors, so we're going to have to pay at least 11-12 million per. At least. Mayo isn't going to come here for the MLE. It"s gonna take at least 7-8 million. Some guys around here are setting themselves up for disappointment.

Another thing people have to consider: No one really wants to come here, so brass is tough to have to severely overpay to get guys to come here.Batum said he'd never want to play for the Raptors, so we're going to have to pay at least 11-12 million per. At least. Mayo isn't going to come here for the MLE. It"s gonna take at least 7-8 million. Some guys around here are setting themselves up for disappointment.

Do you have a source on that? I do recall a potential heart condition that worried the Raptors brass when they were considering drafting him, but I had never seen a source where he explicitly said that he would never play for the Raptors.

So we have the potential to do that. We also have the potential to sign some free agents. On top of that, with Nic being a restricted free agent this summer if we tender him his qualifying offer by June 30, we have the right to match him on any offer that comes in from another team. And how that will work is July 1 is the start of free agency moratorium where you can go out and talk to free agents, you can recruit them, bring them into your market, do whatever you want to do to try and recruit them to come to your team. You can talk contracts with the agents, you can talk years. You can come to an oral agreement, you can't come to a final agreement until July 11.But starting on July 11, a restricted free agent can, like Nicolas, if he gets an offer from another team, can bring that offer to you. Then we have three days to make a decision on whether to match that offer or not.

Now in the meantime, during that three-day window, we can go spend all of our cap room.

BARRETT: Three days is shorter than it used to be. That could be a factor.

BUCHANAN: It does because, hopefully during that July 1 to July 10 period you can get a firm grasp on where you're going with your free agent group. Who's agreed to come? You're down to maybe two teams or where you're at from that regard.

RICE: So you're looking to close a free agent deal before matching an offer for Nicolas?

BUCHANAN: Exactly, because you can spend all, let's say we have $15 million in cap room, you can spend all of that cap room, then go over the cap, not into the tax but over the cap, to re-sign Nicolas because you have Bird rights on Nicolas, so you can go over the cap to re-sign Nicolas.

Let's say we were to extend Nicolas early, back in January. Whatever we would have signed him at would have eaten up into our cap room. Let's say, hypothetically, you have $15 million in room, say you sing him for $10 million. So you have $5 million in cap room this summer to spend. Because we didn't get a deal done with him, he has what is called a cap hold, which is $5.4 million in room that is getting eat up on your books. So now you have this amount of room to spend on free agents and you can go over, on top of that, and re-sign Nic because you have his Bird rights.

BARRETT: The team has said they're going to match any offer for Nic. Nic has said he expects the team to match. Does that keep other teams from making offers because they don't want to have their free-agent money tied up?

BUCHANAN: It is a risk. On our end, we went through that with Paul Millsap a couple of years ago where your money, there's only so many free agents out there and you whittle down to the ones that you really want and target. If you're going to commit to a guy who's a restricted guy, you're tying up your money, like you said, it used to be seven, now it's three days. In that three-day window other guys may be coming off the block and now you're left, after the third day, if the team does match, now you're like, now let's go back, who's still in the pool? Now that guy is picked off that maybe you liked. it's a risk on their end. It was a risk on our end to kind of let him go to restricted, but we felt like the opportunity to add free agent or free agents on top of keeping Nic.

So that is the Blazers game plan: use all their cap space and re-sign Batum. The only hope a team has to steal him from Portland is if they throw crazy money at him and Portland has not signed a PG and/or a C or do a sign and trade with Portland.

So that is the Blazers game plan: use all their cap space and re-sign Batum. The only hope a team has to steal him from Portland is if they throw crazy money at him and Portland has not signed a PG and/or a C or do a sign and trade with Portland.

I think at this point Batum is almost in the "completely out of reach" category. As you said, the only way I could see it happening is if a huge contract is tendered immediately come July 11th, before Portland can sign their own FA targets. Even in that case, I still don't foresee Portland letting him go.